UPDATE 1-Ukraine's security service says search not aimed at pressuring ArcelorMittal

Ukraine's security service said on Monday a search at ArcelorMittal's steel mill in Kryvyi Rih was not an attempt to put pressure on the company.

"It was not pressure for sure," acting security services chief Ivan Bakanov told reporters, adding that work at the plant was not halted. The Ukrainian arm of the world's biggest steelmaker said on Saturday the state security service had searched its plant, a week after new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized management.

The security service said last week it was investigating the company for damaging the environment. The search was conducted to find a source of radiation, which significantly exceeded safe levels and was discovered in new steelmaking equipment, a senior security service official, Ihor Yena, told reporters.

The security service banned management from using the equipment and the room where it is located, Yena said. ArcelorMittal's Ukraine plant said on Sunday that radiation near the equipment was within levels allowed by safety regulations.